YANKEES: Orioles beat Yankees 6-1 behind rookie Gonzalez

New York Yankees' Nick Swisher scratches his head after striking out off Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Darren O'Day in the eighth inning of a baseball game on Friday, Aug., 31, 2012, at Yankee Stadium in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

NEW YORK — Orioles rookie Miguel Gonzalez struck out a career-high nine over seven shutout innings in a masterful pitching performance and Mark Reynolds homered twice as Baltimore tightened the AL East race Friday night with a 6-1 victory over the skidding New York Yankees.

J.J. Hardy added a solo shot for the surprising Orioles, who moved within two games of first-place New York by winning the opener of their big three-game series. That’s the closest Baltimore has been since a 1 1/2-game deficit on June 22, less than a month before the Yankees opened a season-high 10-game cushion on July 18.

Buck Showalter’s young team has been gaining ground since, winning 18 of its last 25 to head into September as serious playoff contenders for the first time in 15 years.

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Reynolds made two spectacular plays at first base and Chris Davis had a sacrifice fly in Baltimore’s three-run second inning against Hiroki Kuroda (12-10), the Yankees’ most consistent and durable starter this season. The 37-year-old right-hander gave up eight hits in 8 1-3 innings, going at least eight for the fourth straight outing, but again was hurt by a lack of run support.

Pitching on 10 days’ rest, Gonzalez (6-3) yielded only four harmless singles to win for the fourth time in five decisions. He walked one and threw 66 of 97 pitches for strikes in his second win at Yankee Stadium. The right-hander beat New York 5-4 on July 30, setting his previous career best with eight strikeouts in 6 2-3 innings.

Featuring a fine changeup and spotting his sneaky 91-93 mph fastball effectively, Gonzalez pitched like a poised veteran in his 10th major league start as the Orioles improved to 5-2 at Yankee Stadium this year.

Nick Swisher whiffed all four times up for the Yankees, who have dropped seven of 10 and nine of 14. This was the first of 10 consecutive games against Baltimore and Tampa Bay, their two closest pursuers in the AL East.

The absence of injured sluggers Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira is catching up with the Yankees. They have three hits in 21 at-bats with runners in scoring position over the past two games.

Darren O’Day worked the eighth and Brian Matusz gave up Curtis Granderson’s 34th home run in the ninth before finishing the five-hitter.

Adam Jones and Matt Wieters opened the second inning with consecutive singles before Davis’ sacrifice fly put the Orioles in front. Reynolds followed with a two-run drive into the second deck.

Reynolds connected again off Derek Lowe with two outs in the ninth. Nick Markakis added an RBI single to make it 6-0.

Hardy hit his 18th homer off Kuroda in the sixth. Baltimore has won 18 games in a month for the first time since September 2004.

NOTES: Baltimore announced the signing of 36-year-old LHP Randy Wolf, cut by Milwaukee last week. “Good addition,” Showalter said. “Good option.” Both lefties in the Orioles’ bullpen are converted starters: Wolf and Matusz. ... Showalter said RHP Tommy Hunter will have a brief outing Saturday with Double-A Bowie and then return to the Orioles early next week. ... Baltimore plans to bring up C Luis Exposito, INF Steve Tolleson and OF Xavier Avery from Triple-A Norfolk when rosters expand Saturday. INF Wilson Betemit (right wrist) will be activated from the disabled list. ... It was Reynolds’ 16th career multihomer game and second this season. The other one was Aug. 14 against Boston. ... New York juggled its rotation for this weekend. Rookie RHP David Phelps will start Saturday instead of Sunday, and RHP Phil Hughes was moved up from Monday to Sunday. Freddy Garcia was bumped back from Saturday against the Orioles to Tuesday at Tampa Bay. ... Rodriguez (broken left hand) and RHP David Aardsma (Tommy John surgery) were set to begin their rehab assignments with Class-A Tampa at Lakeland. ... Yankees LHP Andy Pettitte threw off a mound for the first time since going on the disabled list June 28 with a broken left ankle. ... It was the first time Kuroda allowed more than three runs since July 13 against the Los Angeles Angels. ... Kevin Costner was in the crowd of 43,352.